tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81217312018-01-04T21:36:46.847-06:00Pushing Back the Frontiers of IgnoranceThe heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the leftRobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.comBlogger1362125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-70918375525594587962017-10-09T10:41:00.000-05:002018-01-04T21:36:46.902-06:00Book List 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Fiction<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">John C. Wright: The Judge of Ages<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">John C. Wright: The Architect of Aeons<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">John C. Wright: The Vindication of Man<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">John Bunyan: The Pilgrims Progress<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Jerry Pournelle: There Will Be War Vol 1<o:p></o:p><br />Jerry Pournelle: There Will Be War Vol II<br />Douglas Adams: So Long and Thank's for All the Fish</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Non Fiction<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">David the Good: Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Carl Sandburg: Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Carl Sandburg: Abraham Lincoln: The War Years<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Timoty Egan: The Immortal Irishman: The Irish revolutionary who became an American hero<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">G K Chesterton: The Everlasting Man<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">LawDog: The LawDog Files <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">David Grossman: On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Dr. Joseph Alton: The Survival Medicine Handbook: THE essential guide for when medical help is NOT on the way<o:p></o:p><br />Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, curiosity and the hidden power of character<br />Steven Kotler &amp; James Wheal: Stealing Fire: How silicon valley, the Navy SEALS, and maverick scientists are revolutionizing the way we think<br />Samuel L. Bray &amp; John F. Hobbins: Genesis 1-11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Development<o:p></o:p></b><br />Charles Swindoll: A Life Well Lived</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Dallas Willard: The Divine Conspiracy <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Timothy Keller: Every Good Endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Timothy Keller: King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the life of Jesus<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Kevin Lehman: Sheet Music: Uncovering the secrets of sexual intimacy in marriage<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Roger Connors: The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Dr. Michael S. Heiser:&nbsp; Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World - and Why It Matters<o:p></o:p><br />Todd Wagner: Come &amp; See</div>Phillip Keller: A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23<br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-70358726808732358402016-08-10T21:30:00.000-05:002016-08-10T21:55:31.528-05:00Shadow of the Greater Yet to Come<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">In the hound, God has gifted man a mighty gift, noble in concept and execution. When He charged Adam to take dominion over the earth and all that lies within, there must have been a special place of pride and love in the Almighty as he placed the hidden joys of the coming domesticated canine within man’s grasp. Dogs kept as pets bring hope and heartache, joy and sorrow, and a shadow of the greater joy yet to come for the Christian.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Give no platitudes; maturity and strength do not stem from falsehood. I find no evidence or support in the scriptures for a soul within a dog. Hunter is gone now. This crafty and cheerful and stubborn and loyal Golden Retriever I married into will not be standing in the new kingdom awaiting our arrival. To have a spirit is the breath of life God has given exclusively to man, and all of creation and the angels look upon us with wonder. Yet Hunter is a great gift of God. He is a picture of God’s love; integral to my wife’s coming of age, a testimony of the living God, and a marker of the curse of sin.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The bible is clear that the new kingdom to come is free of death and sorrow. The New Heaven and the New Earth will be rife with the creatures of creation. Those found within the Book of Life will live for eternity in the fully realized reality of Jesus, and even the nature of our pets will change. ‘Pet’ is scarce a word to describe what will be. All of creation groans under the weight of sin and longs of Christ to return. The dog we keep as a pet now is a pale yet delightful shadow of the age to come, groaning and longing himself. Creation, and canines within, will be fully realized. My relationship will be fully realized. I propose that the barriers of communication and understanding will be razed. The glimpses of understanding that we see now are only snatches of the song to come. Maybe in the City of God I will have a buffalo and an echidna with my Anatolian Shepherd dog, while my neighbor sips tea upon his caribou.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Hunter, like most pups, had two eyes. At the ripe age of ten, he developed a wart centered on one pupil. Knowing our budget limit of $400, Jenny looked at the +$1200 appraisal with dismay. Physically, the rest of his body was good, the body of a dog three years his junior. Yet every time Hunter looked at you tail a-wagging, the malignant cornea capper would look right back, growing in scope and magnitude as the days turned into weeks. Cost effective remedies unavailable, we discussed euthanasia to cut off the painful process. One day I noticed a reduction in the growth as I was getting ready for work, and I texted Jenny about it later, and she agreed it was improving. She had prayed to Jesus over his eye for healing, and within two days it was completely healed without any medical attention beyond the initial diagnosis. This afternoon, as the life within a now thirteen-year-old Hunter faded by injection and old age, those eyes looked at me from the table. The eyes conveyed pain from kidney failure, but also a reminder that my God is alive, the Spirit is active, and Jesus does know us as individuals. God reveals His glory in the 10,000 small joys in the days of a dog’s life, and the healing that secures hope. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vXOsIBBKgM8/V6vktsX6WtI/AAAAAAAAFbg/L8K_K2U2-AInuGvGj0oK18mTSG3bl7jtgCK4B/s1600/hunter%2Brecolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vXOsIBBKgM8/V6vktsX6WtI/AAAAAAAAFbg/L8K_K2U2-AInuGvGj0oK18mTSG3bl7jtgCK4B/s320/hunter%2Brecolor.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lake Georgetown, 2013</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Death comes to both man and beast. It is a gift of God that our life spans several rounds of our pets. In young life, a puppy is joy in discovery and the hope that proper training will bring out the full potential. Youthful energy and a desire to go on walks keep the responsible owner young. Their vigilance over the bumps that come in the night brings us rest. The slow and methodical elder age and the resurgence of ‘independent thinking’ are themselves a reminder of what comes upon man in the twilight years. The death itself is a consequence of man’s rebellion against providence, the wages of our sin. Redemption has come for Man by the Christ on the cross. Salvation and new life are there for those who follow Jesus, but while he waits for the wheat and the tares to choose and bear fruit, creation suffers. Until judgment and all is made new creation will continue to suffer. God is sacrificing his good creation to give us more time to come to Him. One day, perhaps soon, this will end and man can rejoice fully with creator and creation once again and for all time. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Greater days are yet to come. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Today, Hunter has passed.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Today, I will value Harmon and Sullivan a bit more. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Today, I know God loves us, each as a person and not only in the collective.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Hunter’s time has come. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">May the time of His return come soon. &nbsp;</span></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-64486109853382065342016-08-01T21:50:00.000-05:002016-11-01T07:16:06.455-05:00Book List 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>Nonfiction</b><br /><div>Richards/O'Brian: Misreading Scriptures with Western Eyes</div><div>C.S. Lewis: The Abolition of Man</div><div>Martin Goodman: Rome and Jerusalem</div><div>Clarence Thomas: My Grandfather's Son</div><div>Timothy &amp; Kathy Keller: The Meaning of Marriage</div><div>James C. Dobson: Bringing Up Boys</div><div>Larry P. Arnn: Churchill's Trial;Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government<br />Donald J. Trump &amp; Tony Schwartz: The Art of the Deal<br />Angela Hanscom: Balanced and Barefoot</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Fiction</b></div><div>John C. Wright: A Book of Feast and Seasons</div><div>John C. Wright: One Bright Star to Guide Them</div><div>Virgil: The Aeneid</div><div>Larry Correia - Son of the Black Sword: The Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 1</div><div>Conn Iggulden - Ghengis: Birth of an Empire</div><div>Conn Iggulden - Ghengis: Lords of the Bow</div><div>Michael Crichton: Pirate Latitudes</div><div>Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms<br />John C. Wright: Count to a Trillion<br />Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Books<br /><br /></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-69505584017133662602015-12-23T17:50:00.000-06:002016-01-09T22:17:50.885-06:00Book List 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Fiction:<br />- Homer: The Odyssey<br />- Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park: The Lost World<br />- C. S. Lewis: The Great Divorce<br />- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring<br />- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Two Towers<br />- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Return of the King<br />- Joseph P. Simon: Forgotten Soldiers<br />- Joseph P. Simon: Wayward Soldiers<br />- John C. Wright: The Golden Age<br />- John C. Wright: Phoenix Exultant<br />- John C. Wright: The Golden Transcendence<br />- Aurthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes:<i> A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, A Case of Identity, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Five Orange Pips, The Man With the Twisted Lips, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band</i> <br />- Andy Weir: The Martian<br />- Paulo Cohelo: The Alchemist<br />- Frank Peretti: This Present Darkness<br /><br />Nonfiction:<br />- Martin Pistorus: Ghost Boy<br />- Frederick Douglass: A Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas<br />- Jack Weatherfront: Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World<br />- Malcomb Gladwell: The Tipping Point<br />- John C. Waugh: Re-electing Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency<br />- Emily Oster: Expecting Better<br />- Jerry Trousdale: Miraculous Movements: <i>How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims are falling in love with Jesus</i><br />- David the Good: <i>Compost Everything</i><br /><i>- </i>Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America<i> </i><br />- Caesar Millan's short guide to a happy dog<br />- David Watson: Contagious Disciple Making <br />- Sharon Moalem: Inheritance: <i>How genes change our lives- and our lives change our genes</i><br /><i>- </i>Rodney Stark: Why the West Won<br />- David the Good: <i>Survival Gardening</i><br /><br /></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-10436111012655236192015-06-28T21:33:00.002-05:002015-06-29T06:50:59.205-05:00Brave is a Plastic Fork<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a movement that I have taken note of within the Christian church. I say within the church because all churches are members of the body of Christ, and the lines between different bodies is more blurred then it has been in generations, even to human faculties. I say movement because many people have adopted its phrases, precepts, and persuasions across numerous church bodies. This is the Brave movement. The Brave movement holds bravery of Christians as a cardinal virtue, and embraces Jesus as one who makes believers brave. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Real people write worship and their writing follows teaching and understanding. Worship songs can become anthems of the faith, constant reminders of seasons we walk in now and seasons that have been in the past. At different times, <i>Amazing Grace<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></i>can be the cry of our hearts or a faint reminder of Christians from days past. <i>Oceans<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></i>by Hillsong may be the anthem of the body for the past two years, a fresh sound of David echoed across the world. Movements have their songs as well, because music penetrates and reflects the soul of the artist and receiver. If there was a Brave movement ten years ago, it probably would have been headlined by Nicole Nordeman with <i>Brave<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>(“…you make me want to be brave”).</i>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, <i>You Make Me Brave<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></i>from Bethel Music is a contemporary worship song that is the anthem of the Brave movement, an ideological rallying cry staking a claim in the hearts of believers engaging in worship. <i>You Make Me Brave</i> has a great sound, uplifting chords and a catchy hook. It opens with a noble message of humility before Jesus (“<i>King of Heaven, in humility I bow”)</i>, a declaration of victory (<i>“Champion of Heaven you made a way for all to enter in”) </i>and proclamation of our calling (“<i>So I will let you draw me out beyond the shore into the waves”). </i>The back half of this worship song is a repeated declaration of “<i>You make me brave”</i> and rebuke of nameless fears. There is much truth in this. Humility is righteous. Jesus is King. Jesus is salvation. We stand called. Jesus makes you brave? </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are three problems with this line of reasoning. The first is a category error, the second is a priority error, and the third is the boy who cried wolf. Brave<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>is an adjective, noun, or a verb describing someone or something ready to face danger without showing fear. Brave is a choice, a manner of action, a method of behavior. One is not ‘made brave’. A firefighter running into his hostile work environment is brave by choice, not by manufacture. Someone did not come and make Rosa Parks brave; she chose to act bravely. No one made the David Livingstone, the ‘Brave Scotchman’, penetrate the African continent for Jesus, he chose his actions and they were brave.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a categorical error to claim ‘you make me brave’ as a truth of Jesus to your heart. This error abdicates the responsibility of the Christian to act brave and fraudulently imposes it upon Jesus, who purposefully does not make our decisions. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Priorities matter. Do not consider all things as of great importance and suffer the opportunity costs of neglecting the important at the expense of the lesser things. Penny-wise, Pound-foolish<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>is a nuanced example of this false focus. Paul tells us about the fruits of the spirit<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>and examples of righteousness<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. Brave is not among them. Maybe this is for two reasons. First, it should be natural in our new state that we live with courage, conviction, and righteousness.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Second, because of our relationship with Jesus we explicitly make the choices of life, he does not make choices for us. This is free will and it is fundamental to Christian faith. Bravery is less then critical for most of choices, and God calls us into much greater than mere bravery. &nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9AvtuoWxik/VZCuWx4y-7I/AAAAAAAAFIk/FAFZ9yP8SNY/s1600/7602-cz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9AvtuoWxik/VZCuWx4y-7I/AAAAAAAAFIk/FAFZ9yP8SNY/s1600/7602-cz.jpg" /></a></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bravery is the failure to appear daunted, unlike boldness, which is not hesitating in the face of actual or possible danger. I think this is what people mean when they say brave, but words shape our mindsets more than intent and therefore matter greatly. To place ‘bravery’ as virtue above Godly humility or righteous living or liberty from the flesh is a waste of great gifts. This is coming into the feast of the marriage of the Bride and Jesus, equipped with our own plastic cutlery and rejecting all the finest forks and knives of heaven. “No thank you” says the diner, “I want to use these instead. You keep those; I have found something much better.” It should frustrate us to see pearls freely offered cast aside so petty rhinestones can continue to adorn this faith. David celebrated the victories of God over his enemies<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>and he rejoiced in the strength God gave him to conquer<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. It is notable that he found comfort in the tools and abilities<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>and deliverance<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>God gave him, not in their rejection. &nbsp;Importantly, David did not expect nor demand that God make his choices for him, he did not praise God for making him brave. &nbsp;David was brave and it was his choice to be, and he worshiped the Lord for who the Lord is and what he has really done. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As David was once a shepherd, so let me tell you of another. Once there was as shepherd boy on the hills. In the midst of a summer doldrums, he prepared a plan for excitement and attention. Dashing down the hill with the sheep ruminating behind, he exclaims to all who listen that he saw a wolf! Reacting with due haste his neighbors dash up the hill seek the destroyer, only they cannot find him there. Days go by and the boy becomes dulled with the tedium of his walk, and he prepares his plan for excitement and attention. Dashing down the hill with the sheep of his master ruminating on his departure, he exclaims again to his neighbors that he saw a wolf! Many of townspeople dash up the hill to spy out the wolf, reacting with perhaps less haste then before. The destroyer is not here! This immature shepherd has misled others and wasted time again. The neighbors admonish the boy for his foolishness and leave him again to tend the master’s flock. Days pass on, and the boy prepares his plan for excitement and attention. It has succeeded without fail in the old days! <i>(In summer, the days grow old with undue speed)</i>.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He stands, ready to dash once again, when he counts his master’s sheep. The flock is smaller than it was. Counting out, he realizes there are indeed sheep missing. In the near distance, howling breaks forth, and the rustles and hustles and bustles reveal a number of destroyers greater then he can handle. Dashing down the hill with the diminishing sheep bleating confusion, scattering behind him; the boy seeks his neighbors and exclaims the news to his town. Now none listens. He has shown complete disrespect for his neighbors, wasted their time with running hither and yon, and destroyed their trust with falsehoods. He has failed to present truth to them, and so when he does come to the truth, no one will accept. It is critical to present the truth always to our neighbors. When we fail at this, there is disrespect and time lost irreparably. If we cry out falsely, or intentionally misdirect our neighbors, we condemn our efforts to failure. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Brave movement does this, foregoing the hard truth of personal responsibility and salvation offered and misdirecting to the plastic forks and knives, saying Jesus makes me brave. This is an easy out with only transient victory. It feels good for a while to claim, “It is not me, Jesus makes me brave!” Yet when the grist is ground in life, there is no foundation prepared to act with righteousness. This is a weak foundation, one built on sand of emotions and temporary expediency. The Brave movement sacrifices the truth of making choices on the altar of a strong female vocal, catchy lyrics and comforting half-truths. Church, we are better than this. Do not offer fake answers to a world demanding reality. Rather hold fast to what is true and proclaim the good news in grace and in truth<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be brave is your choice; it is the choice to do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons, regardless of the consequences of this world. The song <i>Brave </i>by Nicole Nordeman retained this reality, and emphasized the choice of Christian. If our faith is true, we should experience boldness in our walk that is inwardly experienced and outwardly visible. Boldness to disciple, boldness for grace, boldness for truth, boldness for Jesus as he really is and not merely though song. Daniel in Babylon chose to be righteous and the Lord honored his boldness. Peter chose to walk on the water towards Jesus, and in his faith walked with boldness. Paul worshiped in prison, and from his relationship with Jesus came boldness, boldness we have not seen the end of. Make the choice, and do not feast upon half-truths and falsehoods for your life, wherever they come from. Love rejoices with the truth. </span></div><br /><div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br clear="all" /> </span><br /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><!--[endif]--> <br /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="background: white; color: #006621; font-size: 8pt;">www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G72NucLEGM</span></span></div></div><div id="edn2"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="background: white; color: #006621; font-size: 8pt;">www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw</span></span></div></div><div id="edn3"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="background: white; color: #006621; font-size: 8pt;">www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEUxX4kjOo8</span></span></div></div><div id="edn4"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="background: white; color: #006621; font-size: 8pt;">www.</span>youtube.com/watch?v=6Hi-VMxT6fc</span></div></div><div id="edn5"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brave</span></div></div><div id="edn6"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/penny-wise+and+pound-foolish">http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/penny-wise+and+pound-foolish</a><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">Prov.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">thrifty</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">with</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">small</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">sums</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">and</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">foolish</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">with</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">large</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">sums.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">(Describes</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">someone</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">who</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">will</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"></span>go<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>a<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">lot</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>of<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">trouble</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">save</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>a<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">little</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">money,</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">but</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><u><span style="background: white; color: #1d4994;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;">overlooks</span></span></u><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">large</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">expenses</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #404040;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #404040;"></span>to<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">save</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>a<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">little</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">money.</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Even</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>in<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">the</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">United</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">States,</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">the</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">reference</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>is<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">British</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">pounds</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">sterling.)</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="hvr"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sam:</span></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;</span></i></span><span class="illustration"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">If we</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">drive</span></i></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;</span></i></span><span class="illustration"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">to</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">six</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">different</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">grocery</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">stores,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">we'll</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">get</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">the</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">best</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">bargains</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;</span></i></span><span class="illustration"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">on</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">everything</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;</span></i></span><span class="illustration"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">we</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">buy.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">Ala</span><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">n:</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">But</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">with</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">gasoline</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;</span></i></span><span class="illustration"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">so</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">expensive,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">that's</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">penny-wise</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">and</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"></span></span></i></span><span class="hvr"><i><span style="background: white; color: #966a00;">pound-foolish.</span></i></span></span></div></div><div id="edn7"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Galatians 5:22-23 </span></div></div><div id="edn8"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Romans 12:9-21, Colossians 3:12-17</span></div></div><div id="edn9"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Galatians 5:24, 25. Ephesians 4:17-32</span></div></div><div id="edn10"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Psalm 23:5</span></div></div><div id="edn11"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Psalm 27:6</span></div></div><div id="edn12"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Psalm 18:30-36</span></div></div><div id="edn13"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>1 Samuel 17:36</span></div></div><div id="edn14"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/Brave%20Struggle.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>John 1:14, 17</span></div></div></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-9842873029155634202014-12-31T20:37:00.000-06:002015-01-08T17:55:40.799-06:002014 Book List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Due to the overwhelming number of comments on the previous list, I will endeavor to continue the list for 2014.<br /><br /><b><u>Nonfiction:</u></b><br /><b>&gt; Jon Meacham: American Lion</b>; <i>Andrew Jackson in the White House (It is fortunate for us that the man who could have been our Caesar was so dedicated to popular liberty and bank busting. The personal turmoil throughout this&nbsp;administration&nbsp;is astonishing and may have helped limit the already expansive&nbsp;increase in executive power. Long, long read.)</i><br />&gt; <b>G. J. Myers: A World Undone</b>: <i>The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (Truly a masterpiece representation of the the first World War. Extensive provision of context, welcome portraits of the men who changed the war, and an unyielding sense of the weight of the subject)</i><br />&gt; <b>Peter L.&nbsp;Bernstein: The Wedding of the Waters</b>: <i>The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation (Having an even greater impact then even the transcontinental railroad, the project that made New York an economic triumph. Delightful work on an oft neglected subject matter.)</i><br />&gt; <b>Alexander Rose: American Rifle:</b> <i>A Biography (Rifles. Industrial Development. Personal machinations of inventors, soldiers,&nbsp;acquisition&nbsp;officers. generals. industrialists. Recommended for anyone with an interest in firearms or military development.&nbsp;</i><br /><b>&gt; Paul M. Barrett: Glock </b><i><b>(</b>Lightweight, benevolent history of a pistol that changed the face of the worldwide firearms industry)</i><br /><b>&gt; Amity Shlaes: Coolidge&nbsp;</b><i>(I learned an enormous amount of US history through the eyes of one of my favored presidents, a hand of character attempting to stay the progressive tide. Long but worthy read for minds interested in what it takes to reduce a federal budget)</i><br /><b>&gt; Susan Cain: Quiet</b>&nbsp;<i>The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking (<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCEQyCkwAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Ftalks%2Fsusan_cain_the_power_of_introverts%3Flanguage%3Den&amp;ei=LTcaVJnbIMu6ogTs64D4Cw&amp;usg=AFQjCNE34OaRgMFFANWzr7tuZLIIxx0lHw&amp;sig2=jcIbILncqM3T4wwvcnsD_A&amp;bvm=bv.75742615,d.cGU">This </a>TED Talk&nbsp;has all of the book)</i><br /><i>&gt; </i><b>Jim Powell: FDR's Folly</b>&nbsp;<i>(Good documentation of the mess that was the New Deal. Hard to get through, but each chapter is an essay worthy of completion in its own right)</i><br /><b>&gt;John C. Wright: Transhuman and Subhuman:&nbsp;</b>Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth (<i>Highlights include a keen review of the Hobbit movies, strong female characters, and the warping of the modern man by a worldview excluding the Creator. Recommended for scifi and apologetic types).</i><br /><i>&gt; </i><b>Nathaniel Philbrick: The Last Stand: (</b><i>Custer, Sitting Bull, Little Big Horn, a battle that is full of characters richly canvassed. If you like history told with notes on the footnotes and lively personal drama, this is it. )</i><br /><b>&gt; C. S. Lewis: Mere Christianity:<i> (</i></b><i>Exemplary apologetic, rarely shows it's age as Lewis discourses through timeless truths)</i><br /><b>&gt; Steven Dubner &amp; Steven Levitt: Think like a Freak </b>(<i>Thin and repeats a lot of the podcast material. Did not care, they bring an A game to the table and it's worth the short time investment. I will be telling more stories as a result of this book</i>.)<br /><b>&gt;Thomas Cahill: How the Irish Saved Civilization (</b><i>intriguing survey of the classical world's collapse and the effect of Patrick's conversion of Ireland on Ireland and continental&nbsp;Europe)</i><br /><b>&gt;Maury Klien: The Power Makers:</b>&nbsp;Steam, Electricity, and the Men who invented Modern America <i>(Workman like prose, takes a lot of pages to describe the evolution of electricity</i><br /><i>&nbsp;in the US. Not for idle reading but I found it informative)</i><br /><b>&gt; Danny Silk: Keep Your Love On! </b><i>(Could have been condensed to 24 pages, not compelling or revelatory or terribly helpful)</i><br /><i>&gt;</i><b><i>&nbsp;</i>Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's&nbsp;Dilemma &nbsp;</b><i>(Food Inc sourced a lot of material from Pollan's writings, but even after viewing Food Inc I still found fresh and engaging content throughout,. It did accomplish it's unstated goal, to have this reader review my food choices)</i><br /><i>&gt; </i><b>Cityview Church:&nbsp;Perseverance; True Stories from Mineral Wells</b><br /><b>&gt;Margaret MacMillian: Paris 1919:&nbsp;</b>Six Months that Changed the World<br />&gt;<b>Mark Kurlansky: The Big Oyster; History on the Half Shell</b><br /><b>&gt;Michael Lewis: Boomerang</b><br /><br /><b><u>Fiction:</u></b><br /><b>&gt; Isaac Asimov: The Currents of Space </b>(<i>Asimov brings a sci-fi who-dun-it. Fun and engaging</i>)<br /><b>&gt; Douglas Adams: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy </b><i><b>(</b>Hilarious and unrelenting in surprise)</i><br /><b>&gt; Douglas Adams: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe </b><i>(Funny and continues the humor)</i><br /><b>&gt; Douglas Adams: Life, the Universe, Everything </b>(<i>moments of hilarity, too oft a story lost)</i><br /><b>&gt; Neal Stephenson: Snowcrash </b><i>(Clever conceits, a collapsed world run by 'franchise city-states', skateboarding delivery teens, enormous virtual reality engagement,&nbsp;Sumerian&nbsp;myth, the Holy Spirit as an&nbsp;information&nbsp;virus&nbsp;transmittable from humans to virtual reality, a world spanning monopoly on the&nbsp;internet run by a renegade&nbsp;Pentecostal, an Aleut man with a hydrogen bomb... fun concepts which require enormous suspensions of&nbsp;disbelief&nbsp;to overcome chronic&nbsp;biblical&nbsp;mis-information. Audio version was dull. may be better in paper. Tremendous&nbsp;tongue-in-cheek humor. Frustrating characters due to&nbsp;thin thought processes. Unbelievably&nbsp;contemporary&nbsp;for being 22 years old, worth a looksee for sci-fi readers)</i><br /><b><i>&gt;&nbsp;</i>Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet </b>(Sherlock Holmes)<br /><b>&gt; Larry Correia: Hard Magic</b>:&nbsp;<i>Book 1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles (Story. Plot. Characters. Historical context. Magic. Steampunk. So. Good.)</i><br /><b>&gt; Larry Correia: Spellbound</b>:&nbsp;<i>Book I1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles (An equal to the excellence that is Hard Magic)</i><br /><b><i>&gt; </i>Edgar Rice Burroughs: Princess of Mars </b>(<i>classic interplanetary romance adventure science fiction, for boys young and old</i>)<br />&gt;&nbsp;<b>David Liss: Whiskey Rebels: <i>(</i></b><i>Mediocre historical fiction in the period following the war for independence. Yawn.)</i><br />&gt;<b>Larry Correia: Warbound</b>&nbsp;<i>Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles. (Corriea manages the Everest of multi-part fiction, a conclusion worthy of its mighty predecessors. I listened to the audio versions all and they were tremendous, I will be seeking out paper copies to keep on the shelf.)&nbsp;</i><br /><i>&gt;</i><b>John C. Wright: City Beyond Time</b>&nbsp;(<i>Short stories of time travel and the people who live at the end of time and have to deal with the obnoxious consequences of those who travel in time. Thought provoking in the way good science fiction ought to be)</i><br /><i>&gt; </i><b>Edgar Rice Burroughs: At the Earth's Core: </b><i>(Fun and fanciful Sci-Fi/Fantasy of a long time ago. Felt like a compilation of a magazine serial feature)</i><br />&gt;<b>Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of the Four</b><br /><b>&gt;Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles</b><br /><b>&gt;Victor Davis Hanson: The End of Sparta (</b><i>I didn't think it was this way when I read it, but this book has a great stick-to-the-ribs-of-the-mind quality about it, and that is a good thing)</i><br /><b>&gt;&nbsp;Homer</b>: The Illiad<br />&gt; <b>John Stienbeck: The Pearl (</b><i>Deserving of the term 'classic' for its treatment of the heart of man)</i><br /><b><br /></b><b>In Process:</b><br />Homer: The Odyssey<br />John Piper: What Jesus Demands from the World<br /><b><br /></b></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-49508847344437502812014-10-08T20:44:00.000-05:002014-10-08T20:53:29.606-05:00"That, Detective, is the Right Question"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><h3><i>“How did it come to this?”</i></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>-King Théoden, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (<a href="http://youtu.be/Tzx6d5h-5Mg?t=1m30s">movie</a>)</b>&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">History is stories. History is facts. History is events. History is thematic. History is legend. History is truth. History is written by the victors. History is a weapon. History is an argument without end. History is the hand of the Almighty. History is people. History is <i>interesting. </i>History is context.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet if you ask the average American, I suspect the most common refrain will be ‘History is boring’. Why is that? What takes the natural curiosity of a child looking for answers and turns it aside with ruthless efficiency?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is in no small part an absence of a need for understanding. People learn best when there is a definitive and useful application. You look both ways to cross the street to avoid a jarring life event. People brush their teeth to retain molars and smell pleasant. Many children even develop the skill of walking because there is a perceived use. Humans like to see immediate application of what we are learning. The common refrain of students learning algebra is “Why does this matter to me?” In the case of algebra, the material must be known for the future despite its minimal application in the present. It can be taught effectively through rigorous exercises and rote coursework. There is undeniably a correct answer, a solution without dispute. Where math can be effectively compelled, history becomes more obtuse and ephemeral with regimented pressure. It is far from obvious to the reluctant student that history has applications or benefits today or tomorrow. Humans live and learn in the present, often inconsiderate of future needs or utility. In history education, this barrier must be overcome. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJ-7QIBGELU/VDXpUejNNmI/AAAAAAAAB6I/eIAYoa77GEE/s1600/Theoden_sc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cJ-7QIBGELU/VDXpUejNNmI/AAAAAAAAB6I/eIAYoa77GEE/s1600/Theoden_sc.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The separation of a great teacher from a merely competent teacher is the ability to offer value to the pupil. History will not endure as a litany of dates and facts. It is and must be taught as greater than the sum of its parts. One robust way is through stories<a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/How%20did%20it%20come%20to%20this%20-%20history%20is.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. We like stories; our western minds intuitively seek the beginning, the middle and the end. Our empathic side can transport us into the story, riveting us in the search for detail and meaning and purpose. When the application and benefits of learning history escape notice this backdoor of stories can endow appetite. In the absence of this, history education frequently fails the ‘Why does it matter to me?’ question. We want and need the answer to ‘How does it matter to me?’ to prompt the Théoden question, ‘How did it come to this?’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our standard narration of history begins with our first evidence of the written word in ancient Sumer, where we learn of clay tablets and many things we don’t actually know. Then Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Here Be Dark Ages, Vikings, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1492, The <i>Mayflower</i>, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, light bulb, trenches in Europe, Nazis, Atom Bomb, and JFK. None of these things matter in the daily life of most adults, less so in the daily life of a K-12 student. This only begins to matter when people look and ask our Théoden question. When asking this question, people are seeking context; now history matters a great deal. To understand History and its context a personal desire is required. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The challenge for history education is to encourage and enable a student to ask our Théoden question. I propose we work backwards from our present position. Trace out present context in reverse by noting the turning points along the way. Ask “Why are all Americans treated as equal under the law?” We want to trace this idea to its genesis. Tell of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Share the story of Ricky Branch and Jackie Robinson. Let Susan B. Anthony be known. Tell the story of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Skip not Andrew Jackson’s Trail of Tears and the Great Compromise of Clay. Remind us of the Dred Scott decision. Tell of John Quincy Adams and the <i>Amistad</i>. Honor our bedrock of the US constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Tell of the elder Adams and his defense of the law and impartial justice, of Jefferson and his defense of man, of Madison and the separation of powers, of Monroe and his pen, and of Washington and his integrity with power. Teach of those binary stars Burke and Paine. Recall Locke and Hobbes, Cromwell and John Cooke, and the still earlier Magna Carta. Know that Hammurabi of Babylon did codify laws and that the Medes and the Persians held their monarchs bound. Let us never forget that all men are created equal, each created in the image of his creator. The vast sweep of history and context require understanding, yet the knowledge must find rest in the fertile soil asking the why and the how. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will that fertile soil come into being? Not all students will muse as Théoden, nor should we force them to. It is imperative to understand that force-fed history is worse than no history at all. It provides the veneer of knowledge through possession of paperwork certifying completion. It fosters distaste for the subject of the past. No one eagerly anticipates the next glass of milk if the previous one was curdled when consumed. Let us not behave foolishly and ruin the minds which may become agreeable to this study in the future by souring the mind in the present. Let those who wish to ignore history do so as their choice, and leave the minds that will choose to concern themselves with the context of history unsullied with milk miserably curdled. &nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br clear="all" /></span></div><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--> <!--[endif]--> <br /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Robert%20Wood/Documents/How%20did%20it%20come%20to%20this%20-%20history%20is.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Practical Note for grades K-6<sup>th</sup>: Look at the Landmark series of history books published by Random House. These are a vast collection of narrative histories and biographies written by prolific children’s authors from the 1950’s-60s, and do an extraordinary job of embedding the story of people’s lives into the factual narrative of history.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[ii] <a href="http://pushbackignorance.blogspot.com/2012/09/comprehension-of-past-as-cure-of-future.html">Here are some thoughts</a> on why history matters to civilization and public policy choices of the electorate from 2012.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[iii] Title From I, Robot,&nbsp;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx8LAFSY3Ws</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-59862291795541488012014-08-09T11:57:00.002-05:002014-12-17T19:15:32.601-06:00Why Guardians of the Galaxy Matters and Will Not Matter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal">(Spoilers are limited to names and places of characters and generalizations of story conclusions.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">James Gunn’s <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> is quick. It moves with deft speed through characters, scenes, story pieces, combat sequences, moral conundrums and always present humor. I found it to be fun, humorous, and complex. It is a pinnacle of the great American art form, the blockbuster summer movie. Great tie-ins to the other Marvel movies, edge of the seat adventure and subtle actions by off-focus characters that fill in the world as real and not a mere set piece on camera. A tree powerfully voiced by Vin Diesel. A cybernetic being resembling a raccoon with a wicked sense of humor and affinity for large weapons. We see Titans, empires, and galaxy spanning political machinations. Flashing lights and witty dialogue and eye candy coalescing into one enormous mound of cotton candy. It passes time enjoyably, but departs from the superhero movie norm by failing to nourish.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LA5vGs12DWg/U-ZSyiqDsxI/AAAAAAAAB5A/IOWJ9mHLVSA/s1600/guardians_poster_via_marvel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LA5vGs12DWg/U-ZSyiqDsxI/AAAAAAAAB5A/IOWJ9mHLVSA/s1600/guardians_poster_via_marvel.jpg" height="211" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Guardians</i> is a pinnacle and a new standard of what a blockbuster summer movie <i>can</i>, and maybe <i>should</i> be visually At no time is there an animation awry, no sound emits out of place, no character is poorly shown. The suspension of disbelief is complete, and one is transported into a world far beyond our own. It’s magic, and it is what a good movie ought to do. But I cannot imagine what the next frontier is. In my lifetime, we have moved beyond the mantra that ‘the graphics are so much better’ for the next big movie and the next big game console. Today, the ‘graphics’ are so reliably superb (<i>Pacific Rim, The Avengers, Super 8)</i> that there is no room for significant improvement. A simultaneous trend in storytelling has been to pace faster, to tighten up the sequences, to accelerate the story for an audience with failing attention spans. The pace Gunn sets in <i>Guardians </i>is warp 9; comprehensive stories cannot develop faster in the future. &nbsp;Americans, we treasure our witty dialogue and want ‘take-home’ lines to pepper our conversations on and off Facebook. From <i>Guardians</i>, there will be no shortage of one-liners, not the least of which starts <i>(I am…spoiler)</i>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suspect that human nature has always facilitated at least two manners of storytelling. There are stories we tell to amuse, and stories we tell to expand ourselves. Stories for amusement pass the time, offer escape from the mundane, tell us about whom people are, and provide glimpses of worlds and times beyond our own. Stories that expand us inspire, instill morality, illustrate good versus evil, pass the time, offer escape from the mundane, tell us whom people can be, draw us into worlds and times beyond our own, and have the capacity to endure. This endurance springs from being at least partly rooted in the character of the divine. It is the character of God to love, to protect, to give life, to prosper, to be victorious, and to sacrifice. The latter stories possess some measure of this. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Compare two movies in the same universe: <i>The Avengers</i> and <i>Guardians of the Galaxy. </i>&nbsp;Both are successful movies at the peak of their craft with enormous pop culture resonance.<i>Guardians’</i> is a story told only to amuse. Part of the entertainment offer is mockery of the story, intentionally destroying the atmosphere of nobility that may incidentally creep up on the characters. The sole moral direction appears to be ‘<i>I don’t have friends, we’re totally doing stuff together, let’s be friends because friends are the most important part of life. Also I mostly don’t trust you.</i>’ <i>Guardians</i> is a mirror to this cultural moment. It is loud and brash and self-depreciating and in constant search for the next diversion. It borrows weight and gravity by using words of which the audience will have a passing but incomplete understanding. Eastern myth is found in the vile Ronan (<i>pronounced Ronin</i>); the Greeks are not forgotten so long as Thanos and the Titans exist; the God of Abraham still resonates so long as the foul Ronan is called The Accuser and Gamora (<i>pronounced: Gomorrah</i>) walks among us. It reflects today because our affections lie with the outlaws and those on the fringe, but there is somehow a powerful yet benevolent government at the end of the day to offer us solutions <i>(Nova Prime). </i>&nbsp;The religious are the troublemakers <i>(Ronan and his Kree-ness). </i>Our heroes are a band of misfits who claim no identity beyond individual selfish greed or revenge (<i>except the tree (of life?)</i>). Only vaguely does the team form through a collective self-interest <i>(for money, pronounced Units)</i> that is treated with featherweight gravity within the film and finds little resonance in my heart. There is no moment where the characters must strive to be greater beings then they have been before. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Avengers</i> is something different. The Avengers are a team formed to accomplish something greater than the sum of the parts; it requires sacrifice of the team members to be part of the whole. It represents a morality that says ‘<i>Other people are more important than me, and I have the ability to make a change for the better. I am and will be the shield of protection and the sword of justice</i>’. As in Tolkien’s <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> and Lucas’ <i>Star Wars</i>, Whedon’s <i>Avengers</i> show heroes becoming something greater then themselves. <i>Guardians</i>lacks in this essential, and I expect it will be largely irrelevant within a decade. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the sake of my children to come, I find this irrelevance a desirable conclusion. The stories I want the children of my clan surrounded by should build up, edify, and offer a life giving view of the world. Classically, Homer’s Odysseus endures the foul play of beings beyond humanity to return to Ithaca, not for the land and treasure alone but to reunite with Penelope and restore justice. In literature, we find Tolkien’s Eowyn, shieldmaiden of Rohan, following her conviction and entering battle with Merry the hobbit at her side, which led to her circumventing the witchcraft, striking down the foul undead lieutenant of Sauron and changing the course of battle. More recently, Spiderman’s Uncle Ben cautions us “With great power comes great responsibility”. Del Toro in <i>Hellboy</i> ponde<span style="background-color: white;">rs: “<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333;">What makes a man a man? A friend of mine once wondered. Is it his origins? The way he comes to life? I don't think so.</span> It’s the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them.” </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i>, for its fine craft and stupendous storytelling, does not build up, edify or nourish the parched places. There is no call to the heights of greatness, only an approbation of the false bravado and persistent mockery of all subjects within reach. Here lies the empty humor of sarcasm and bitterness, which does not give life. Watch and be amused, for <i>Guardians</i> does amuse. But man was not meant to subsist on cotton candy alone, be sure to feast well elsewhere. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-55053776866968757722014-04-27T13:58:00.003-05:002014-04-28T19:39:16.899-05:00Wage Limitations <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EDIT: This is a response to an article on Yahoo!: <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-maximum-wage-060900788.html">Why We Need a Maximum Wage</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Minimum wage is a labor restriction created and maintained by the US Federal Government. The rationale&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for its existence is to keep employer from driving down the cost of wages to the point where the wage no longer benefits the laborer. This is absurd. People don’t work when they don’t receive adequate compensation. In economics jargon we would say that the marginal benefit of the pay must exceed the marginal cost of the labor input. There are several problems with the concept that minimum wage laws help the poor or under employed, and they are standard fare for economics coursework. By artificially raising the price of labor, employers employ fewer workers and find alternative solutions.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n8Pa0XpGHNI/U11TI3JJmEI/AAAAAAAAB3s/Ok0dtk6tFzE/s1600/Before+Economics.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n8Pa0XpGHNI/U11TI3JJmEI/AAAAAAAAB3s/Ok0dtk6tFzE/s1600/Before+Economics.gif" height="320" width="256" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is because of the nature of employment in a market environment. A business will not, and indeed, cannot, employ a workforce that costs the organization more than that work force increases revenue. This cost accounting must include payroll, healthcare, taxes, and all other costs associated with the employment. If any of these areas increases in cost, the profitability of each employee decreases and raises the ceiling for increasing or maintaining the size of the workforce.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These cost increase can be in the form of higher pay, higher taxes, and increasing benefit requirements; indeed, we have seen this take place over the past decade with disastrous results on the employment level of the US labor force. It is apparent that mandating increasing the cost of employment has damaged the labor market.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In short,<i> the relationship between an employee and an employer is a win-win relationship</i>. The employee is receiving compensation in excess of value of their input. The organization is receiving more value from this employees work then they are compensating the employee. This is a wonderful arrangement as both sides willingly forego value in order to acquire a greater value offered by the counterpart. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a growing concern that income inequality in the US is a problem spot that requires remedy. Critics of high levels of income point to the disparity of wages at the very top when compared as a ratio to the wages of the average worker, or indeed, the minimum wage level of the US. The current solution to this perceived dilemma is a progressive marginal tax rate, where greater levels of income are taxed at a higher rate the income bracket beneath it.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>This has the effect of permitting high wages while punishing those increased wages with higher levels of taxation. This results in lower taxes for the lower marginal tax rate brackets, so that the lower levels of income pay far less then do the higher levels of income. The current rate of income tax paid by the top 10% in the US is over 70%<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>, while the remaining 90% of those in the US making less than the top ten 10% pay only 30% of income tax. It is clear that low income tax payers benefit mightily from the taxes paid by the ‘elite’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suppose we capped the level of income to say, 1000 times the level of minimum wage<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. That is roughly 15 million dollars annually for the very top level income earner. The threshold for the top 1% of household incomes is 350,000<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. Very few households would be directly impacted by such a law, right?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In light of taxation impact from top income earners, this is wrong. Capping wages would reduce the income taxes paid by top level earners, thereby increasing the tax burden on the lower levels of income or increasing the spending deficit. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let us return now to the micro question: Why do organizations employ individuals? Because the marginal benefit of that employee is in excess of the marginal cost to the organization. What holds true for the janitorial staff, the attorneys and the mid-level director holds true for the CEO. At some point, the perceived value of that employee was in excess of their rate of pay. While that may not continue to be the truth, it was nevertheless a crucial decision made along the way. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What water does that bucket hold? Payroll is not the only form of compensation. In the Great Depression, the US Federal Government restricted pay increases and other forms of compensation. In the finite wisdom of a government agency, it supposed that restricting pay increases would help win the War. As a result, companies found other ways of acquiring and retaining talent. Enter employer-paid healthcare insurance, or what we now call ‘benefits’<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The point is this: Exceptional talent (or those perceived to be) is highly prized in the market. In a marketplace where organizations are bigger then national governments, and annual revenues exceed that of many nations, the stakes for having the best at your helm is extraordinary and demands extraordinary compensation. Salary and bonuses are easy to see, stock options less so, and other forms of compensation become even more opaque.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply capping the level of income will do little to reduce compensation; organizations will just find other ways to compensation top flight individuals. In the process, that low-income worker who has a lesser tax burden will suddenly find higher taxes or increased deficits, not a reduction in the ‘oppression’ of wage disparity.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To summarize again: Wage inequality is not an injustice, to cap income for the wealthy is to damage all income classes, and compensation will continue despite a cap on income.&nbsp;</span></div><br /><div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br clear="all" /> </span><br /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><!--[endif]--> <br /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2013/01/05/updated-2013-federal-income-tax-brackets-and-marginal-rates/</span></div></div><div id="edn2"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/12/news/economy/rich-taxes/</span></div></div><div id="edn3"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-maximum-wage-060900788.html">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-maximum-wage-060900788.html</a></span></div></div><div id="edn4"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States</span></div></div><div id="edn5"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121731#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_in_the_United_States#The_rise_of_employer-sponsored_coverage</span></div></div></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-25664580127966185822013-06-27T17:46:00.001-05:002014-01-07T06:27:24.819-06:002013 Book List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As is readily apparent to all who enter, I have been unable to maintain a consistent presence on this blog.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is likely to continue into the future, as my wife and I have begun to spend more time in ministry together and I am no longer at a university living the leisurely life of blogging from the classroom.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there is one joy in life I would still like to share and discuss. Books. This is the ongoing list of the books I've worked through this year, and it will be updated as the pages turn on. &nbsp;No particular order, there may be parenthetical notes in regards to a work.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>***** Five Star: </b>(Unmitigated recommendation from this blogger)</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;&nbsp;</span><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Adams - Watership Down</b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;(</span><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A genuine classic that encourages the mind and soul. World-building on par with Tolkien, with rabbits rather then Hobbits)</i><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;&nbsp;</span><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">David&nbsp;McCullough&nbsp;- John Adams&nbsp;</b><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Virtuoso work by a solid historical author. Worth every minute. You can all have your Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, and Madison. Me? I'm pining for &nbsp;Adams, a man exemplary in character and consequence in his own time. A lasting test of his mettle? His son John Quincy, marking John Adams as one who could straddle the line of Family and Country and succeed)</i><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fiction:</b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Issac&nbsp;Asimov&nbsp;- The Robots of Dawn</b> <i>(disappointing social commentary thinly disguised as a robot whodunit, a rare&nbsp;Asimov miss&nbsp;)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Stanislaw Lem - Solaris</b> <i>(A Polish work of 52 years past, translated. Excellent)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Vox Day - A Magic Broken &amp; Wardog's Coin &amp; The Last Witchking </b>(<i>Compelling&nbsp;novelettes&nbsp;in a intricate fantasy world</i>)</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Lars Walker - Hailstone Mountain</b> (<i>Off the beaten path Nordic fantasy from the perspective of a priest. Enjoyable.)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles</b> <i>(He doesn't so much write as paint with words. Compelling short form science fiction)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine</b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>John&nbsp;Steinbeck&nbsp;- Cannery Row<i>&nbsp;</i></b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;&nbsp;<b>Alstair&nbsp;Reynolds - Revelation Space</b> (<i>Listened on Audible. Difficult to follow, not recommended)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Richard Adams - Watership Down</b> (<i>A genuine classic that encourages the mind and soul)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>&gt; </i><b>Vox Day - A Throne of Bones</b> (<i>Rome, Elves, Orcs, Dragons,&nbsp;intricacies&nbsp;to rivet the attentive reader)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> C.S. Lewis - The Screwtape Letters</b> (<i>Putting this on the 'Must Read to finish Homeschool' list)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>&gt;<b> </b></i><b>Larry Niven - Rainbow Mars</b> (<i>Science fiction of men and sundry martians that never left me quite enough rope with which to catch on)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;&nbsp;<b>Frank Herbert</b>&nbsp;- Dune Messiah (<i>disappointing following the masterpiece that is Dune)</i></span><br /><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Non Fiction:</b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>David&nbsp;McCullough&nbsp;- John Adams </b><i>(Virtuoso work by a solid historical author. Worth every minute.)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>George Daughn - If By Sea</b>: The Forging of the American Navy: From the Revolution to the War of 1812 (<i>Comprehensive and accessible. A rare and noble feat.)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Luigi Zingales - A Capitalism for the People</b>: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Michael Lewis - Moneyball</b>: The art of winning an unfair game&nbsp;<i>(Baseball. Economics. Personal stories.Remarkable work)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Michael Lewis - The Blind Side</b>: Evolution of a Game&nbsp;<i>(Football. Economics. Personal stories. Remarkable work)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Matt Chandler - The Explicit Gospel</b> <i>(As good as hoped for, good for thinkers)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Andy Staley/Bill Willits - Creating Community</b>: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> James Wesley Rawles - How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It</b> <i>(With no limit on the budget, apparently no problem can not be surmounted)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>James Bradley - The Imperial Cruise</b>: A Secret History of Empire and War (<i>This rocked my view of 1890-1910 America &amp; Teddy Roosevelt in a sharply negative direction)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>&gt;<b> </b></i><b>Kevin Dedman - The Ultimate Treasure Hunt</b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Amy S. Greenberg - A Wicked War</b>: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico (<i>Executive abuse of power leading to invasion of a sovriegn land. Echos of today)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Giles Milton - Nathaniel's Nutmeg</b>, Or the True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Andy Staley - 7 Practices of Effective Ministry</b></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Cook's Illustrated - The Science of Good Cooking</b> (<i>Delicious and informative)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Nathaniel Philbrick - Bunker Hill</b>: A City, a Siege, A Revolution (<i>High quality narrative nonfiction of Boston in the years surrounding the start of the War for Independence)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> Mike Dash - Tulipomania</b> <i>(Because flowers and market mania without inflationary monetary policy)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;<b> E. F. Schumacher - Small is Beautiful</b>: Economics as if People Mattered (<i>Useful first half, not so much the second half)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt;&nbsp;<b>Malcolm Gladwell - David and Goliath</b>: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (<i>Stories and lessons learned of how the quick and nimble destroy the slow and ossified)</i></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Rob Goodman - Rome's Last Citizen</b>: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Michael Lewis - The Big Short</b>: Inside the Doomsday Machine</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&gt; <b>Jon Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven</b>: A Story of Violent Faith</span><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-52456909035637134112013-05-22T15:33:00.002-05:002013-05-22T15:33:25.892-05:00Drive Friendly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MqcSFychBAI/UZ0rTwZNwuI/AAAAAAAABxc/SSmhX64glBQ/s1600/TXDMOV.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MqcSFychBAI/UZ0rTwZNwuI/AAAAAAAABxc/SSmhX64glBQ/s1600/TXDMOV.JPG" /></a></div><br /><br />No seat belt?<br /><br /><i>(Screenshot of&nbsp;<a href="http://txdmv.gov/regional-service-centers/ftworth">http://txdmv.gov/regional-service-centers/ftworth</a>&nbsp;at 3:31pm 5/22/13)</i><br /><br /><br /></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-6582138228405745982013-03-06T16:25:00.000-06:002013-03-07T17:55:51.926-06:00Is Rand Paul Still Talking?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A worthy question.<br /><br /><a href="http://israndpaulstilltalking.com/">http://israndpaulstilltalking.com/</a><br /><br />As of now, yes. 5:38 strong.<br /><br />Get it done Mr. Paul.<br /><i>“I will speak today until the president responds and says, ‘No, we won’t kill Americans in cafes. No, we won’t kill you at home at night,’”</i><br /><i><br /></i> <i>"Are you going to just drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?"</i><br /><i><br /></i>UPDATE: Fillibuster still going &nbsp;at 11:33.<br /><br />H/t<a href="http://inshredz.blogspot.com/"> Gino</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4J1k0jdsIs8/UTgVRpZ_vYI/AAAAAAAABsQ/jBTDengtkjw/s1600/Peace+Prize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4J1k0jdsIs8/UTgVRpZ_vYI/AAAAAAAABsQ/jBTDengtkjw/s200/Peace+Prize.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WVQmCirS2tw/UTgX1DxBUsI/AAAAAAAABsg/LN9gUXcaixs/s1600/%23StandWithRand+3+Year+Old.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WVQmCirS2tw/UTgX1DxBUsI/AAAAAAAABsg/LN9gUXcaixs/s1600/%23StandWithRand+3+Year+Old.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WVQmCirS2tw/UTgX1DxBUsI/AAAAAAAABsg/LN9gUXcaixs/s200/%23StandWithRand+3+Year+Old.JPG" width="160" /></a></div>Also:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">To conclude, from <a href="http://thehill.com/video/senate/286881-paul-blasts-back-at-mccain-graham#ixzz2MtwQj800">The Hill</a>: “They think the whole world is a battlefield, including America, and that the laws of war should apply,” Paul said in an interview on Fox News about McCain and Graham, who had described Paul’s comments about drones as “ridiculous.” “The laws of war don't involve due process, so when they ask you for an attorney you tell them to shut up. That's not my understanding of the way America works,” Paul told Fox. “I don't think the laws of war apply to America, I think the Bill of Rights do and I think it's a disservice to our soldiers that our senators up there arguing that the Bill of Rights aren't important." </blockquote></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-44213250108668856752013-02-25T22:48:00.000-06:002013-02-26T10:52:15.388-06:00Nuclear Wildcard<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his 2002 State of the Union Address, George W Bush warned Americans about the looming threat of the contemporary ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil">axis of evil</a>’. This trio – Iran, Iraq and North Korea - was ostensibly engaged in the headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons with the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on the west. In the aftermath of 9/11 and in the early days of combat in Afghanistan, Americans were eager for the next target of our indignant fury. &nbsp;&nbsp;Within 14 months, combat operations would begin in Iraq, tearing apart the first of the three ‘axis powers’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortuitously, we have not yet engaged or invaded Iran or North Korea. North Korea has continued to execute a strategy of being the crazed knife-wielding hyena of the East Asia. To placate the beast, we have and will continue to offer it food while maintaining the DMZ along the border. This is how Clinton, Bush, and Obama <i>&nbsp;</i>maintained the peace. With Iran, we have &nbsp;perceived the continual threat of nuclear armament for years on end. Subsequent predictions should the Persians develop weapons for the atomic age have conjured apocalyptic scenarios of a world without Israel and gasoline at $12 a gallon. While we have intentionally avoided official diplomatic discussions with Iran, we protest that it is Iran who is the aggressive power in the Middle East. It is politically convenient to ignore the reality that we have invaded two neighbors and control by military might nearly 60% of the borders in contact with Iran. In the face of such naked aggression on our borders, any nation would seek a more capable military response. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The solution for Iran has not yet come to pass, although it is debatable that such a solution is the responsibility or prerogative of these United States. It is unlikely that our solutions for North Korea and Iran will involve a land invasion reminiscent of Iraq. In simple terms, the financial and emotional wherewithal for a ground invasion and occupation of yet another nation does not exist. Military strategy in the near future will require different tools, tools developed and escalated within the past decade of military operations. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z3x-NxMj-zo/USznqEINfII/AAAAAAAABsA/W-qvV3C2p8g/s1600/Gambit-x-men-25539032-1440-900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rémy LeBeau Knows Whats Up" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z3x-NxMj-zo/USznqEINfII/AAAAAAAABsA/W-qvV3C2p8g/s320/Gambit-x-men-25539032-1440-900.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In our rampant imperialism with boots on the ground, we have developed an unprecedented level of air superiority. A decade ago, drones were the infants in the arsenal of the west; today they are entering their adolescence. The military tools now seen in the Predator and Reaper drones, when combined with precision munitions, are capable of striking an enemy without endangering a pilot. This is a blessing, as combat operations retain a keen edge of destruction without becoming life threatening to military personnel. It is a perfect storm of superiority and safety in opposition theatres. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This risk free application of force has become the terrible vice of drone warfare, and in turn, our foreign policy. The tactical reality is that there is almost no cost to the US when autonomous missile throwers are employed. Economics imparts the wisdom that ‘<i>there is no free lunch</i>’; there are costs associated with all actions. One clear cost is the damage wrought on the ground by the ordinance. This is intentional, although properly controversial. A cost that is far more difficult to account for is the United States’ loss of moral standing in the world. The hearts and minds of people matter, as actions and preferences are born from people’s beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terrorism is one consequence of desperation, the killing of innocents to draw attention and make a point. It is not a consequence of living among sand, nor is the result of raising goats rather than cattle. Terrorism is a tactic employed to provoke a response and affect the hearts of the enemy. The ostensible mastermind of the 9/11 attacks did not see the breaking of the towers as an end, but as a means to an end. Bin Laden believed that when the US retaliated and began to destroy the lives and families of Muslims, they would join his jihad against the United States. Our invasions fit the historical US pattern of invasion, occupations, withdrawals, and intermittent air strikes; we have returned to the very tactics so strongly decried by those recruiting new terrorists. In Afghanistan alone, there has been a <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/290805.html">72% increase</a> in drone air strikes in the past year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Niger, Somalia, Mali and others are now active theatres for US air strikes. These strikes frequently create collateral damage. At the very least, they are annoying to those who live nearby. In a primitive society, this is a god-like power, to strike across borders from the air without consequence. These people are not primitive; they are well aware of who bears responsibility for the bombings. It has inflamed opinion against the US. It will bring on additional action against the US. It will spur the very hearts and minds of those whose tacit opposition to the jihad we so crucially depend on. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/hellfire-morality-and-strategy?utm_source=freelist-f&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20130219&amp;utm_term=gweekly&amp;utm_content=title&amp;elq=5af7a0472fdd49589bfc3549bff8e59c">George Friedman</a> said it well, <i><span style="background: white;">"</span>A military strategy to defeat the jihadists is impossible. At its root, the real struggle against the jihadists is ideological, and that struggle simply cannot be won with Hellfire missiles.”</i><span style="background: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #403152;">Pakistan is rightly opposed to US actions: our invasion of their borders, our assassination teams sent in without permission and our continually escalating air strikes by drones. According to </span><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/160439/2012-pakistani-disapproval-leadership-soars.aspx" style="color: #403152;"><span style="color: #403152; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;">Gallup</span></a><span style="color: #403152;">, 92% of those polled in Pakistan are now opposed to the US leadership in Pakistan. The single nation on earth which lays claim to being both Muslim and a genuine nuclear power is the sovereignty we have violated with reckless abandon. The democracy of Pakistan is on shaky ground, propped up by the US, which is detested by the population. It is no&nbsp;far-fetched&nbsp;proposition to see a future in which the nuclear weapons of Pakistan are deployed against the west in retribution for the wrongs committed in the name of preempting terrorism. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #403152;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a poker game where cards represent nations, and the cards showing nuclear threats are Iran and North Korea are on the table. The card of Pakistan still sits in the deck. History and God deal many wildcards over the course of time, and Pakistan could be the next one. If such a deal comes, we will look once again in wonder and anger and ask, “<i>Why do they hate us?</i>” The answer will be found in our actions, our vice, and our imperial hubris that led us to believe that there could be no consequences to rampant bombing of individuals the world over. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #403152; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: accent4; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liberties and the constitution are sacrificed for security upon the altar of political expediency. Once again, we will see the Military-Industrial complex fully primed for a war financed by continual deficits. It is glory and it is pain to see from within an empire behave as an empire, but better perhaps to be within then without.&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-68818622521954737272013-02-05T14:01:00.000-06:002013-02-05T17:11:48.294-06:00Zimbabwe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has a good lesson to teach on the dangers of printing money to solve a government budget deficit.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been sitting on these pictures for a while, but this story seems like a good one to bring them up with.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2008, Zimbabwe reached 231 Million Percent&nbsp;Annual&nbsp;inflation. Here is the result:</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hp2j8CNakLo/URFgDtz8DRI/AAAAAAAABrY/-xYkgIEmktc/s1600/zimbabwe+Hyper+inflation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hp2j8CNakLo/URFgDtz8DRI/AAAAAAAABrY/-xYkgIEmktc/s1600/zimbabwe+Hyper+inflation.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;Even more distressing?&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The national accounts of Zimbabwe total up to $<a href="http://%20worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16758970-zimbabwe-checks-its-bank-balance-finds-only-217?lite">217</a>&nbsp;following payroll last week.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_A9dWjQ4sc/URFgDmfFzzI/AAAAAAAABrc/g-2amE5VV5M/s1600/Zimbabwe-One-Hundred-Tril-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_A9dWjQ4sc/URFgDmfFzzI/AAAAAAAABrc/g-2amE5VV5M/s320/Zimbabwe-One-Hundred-Tril-001.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson? A government cannot simply create more money to exit economic recessions, deficits, or liquidity traps. The current financial world has not yet reckoned with the&nbsp;potential&nbsp;for rampant inflation of the US dollar, but the time will come. Inflation is more rampant in an&nbsp;environment&nbsp;of economic growth, it is the boom not the bust which brings the destruction. &nbsp;This lasting&nbsp;doldrums&nbsp;of the past four years has&nbsp;suppressed&nbsp;price inflation, although cracks still appear in the ceiling. See, gas prices rising&nbsp;consistently&nbsp;without obvious changes in supply or demand.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To allay this gloom, recall an American electorate which as a long history of rejecting&nbsp;inflationary government measures. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_American_currency#Continental_currency">Continentals</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Note">Greenbacks</a>, and the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimetalism#United_States">Bimetallism</a>&nbsp;of Williams Jennings Bryan were all cast upon the ash heap of history. We will either remember that crafting new monetary units from the ether results in hardship for the poor, or these current United States will cease to exist.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><br /></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-85233774361801418962013-01-25T04:00:00.000-06:002013-01-25T04:00:15.327-06:00The Culture that is Germany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10333211">BBC News:</a></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px;">The man drove up to a Hell's Angels clubhouse near Munich, wearing only a pair of shorts and carrying a puppy.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He dropped his shorts and threw the dog, escaping on a bulldozer from a nearby building site."</span></blockquote><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best introduction to an article which is perhaps the best news story ever written. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;Germany is a far more interesting tourist destination today then it was a week hence.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qr_2HxMmL-4/UQF5G4BnCTI/AAAAAAAABrI/L2dkPeLD3bw/s1600/ROCCO-BostonTerrier-7years-jpg_191734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qr_2HxMmL-4/UQF5G4BnCTI/AAAAAAAABrI/L2dkPeLD3bw/s200/ROCCO-BostonTerrier-7years-jpg_191734.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artistic representation of a hurled puppy</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-53211921476317569602013-01-24T13:00:00.000-06:002013-01-24T13:00:00.704-06:00Gino On Firearm Restriction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an excellent excerpt from another 5 star blog post over at <a href="http://inshredz.blogspot.com/2013/01/who-you-gonna-call.html">In Shredz</a>.</span></div><blockquote>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">But nobody needs one of these rifles, right? They are not practical for civilian use, they are just killing machines, right?</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">Guess again.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">Forget that scenario of warrior patriots standing up to defend their freedom from military forces. I'm not going there here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">Instead, I can tell you what happened in Los Angeles during the riots 20 years ago. The rioting quickly spread, so fast, so far, so violent, so out of control, that vast swaths of a very large city were abandoned by all forces who's job was to provide law, order and protection to the citizens."</span></blockquote><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The entire post is&nbsp;eminently&nbsp;readable and will provoke one to thought. Its also an angle which has been unfortunately drowned out in the&nbsp;cacophony&nbsp;of Left/Right media discussions. The&nbsp;possession&nbsp;of firearms to maintain domestic security is not directed merely at deer (<i>Cuomo!</i>), or at any specific standing administration (<i>you know who you are</i>) but also at the terror that comes when a mob rises up. In historical context, this has been a very quiet time for populist or violent movements, but America is no stranger to sudden and violent uprisings.&nbsp;</span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-55866759182020727592013-01-24T12:05:00.002-06:002013-01-24T12:13:11.010-06:00The Culture that is Ireland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The County Kerry Council in southwest Ireland passed a measure on Monday that allows rural drivers to legally drive while under the influence of alcohol.The <b>council voted 5-3 - with 12 absent and seven abstaining</b> - to issue special permits to individuals who live in rural areas and wish to drive home on remote countryside roads after consuming two to three alcoholic beverages." - <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/irish-county-legalizes-drunk-driving-180430760--abc-news-topstories.html">YahooNews</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I put this under&nbsp;<i>'America has many problems, but this ain't one of them'</i> category. At least we require a quorum to make decisions effecting law.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By far the best comment:</span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.1875px;">This is quite surprising.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.1875px;">I had no idea drunk driving was illegal in Ireland."</span></blockquote></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-8647768357263226782013-01-17T15:47:00.001-06:002013-01-24T12:13:46.497-06:00The Fed and Prices<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The consumer price index over time in the US, note the creation of the Federal Reserve, and the subsequent change of pace. Also note the subsequent change of increase when the gold standard was completely removed from the US Dollar in the early 1970's. H/t <a href="http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/01/07/chart-of-the-day-inflation-since-the-american-revolution/">ZeroHedge</a></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EBZA6z_1snU/UPhlRiD0duI/AAAAAAAABq4/Zaya09CyFBY/s1600/InflationChart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EBZA6z_1snU/UPhlRiD0duI/AAAAAAAABq4/Zaya09CyFBY/s640/InflationChart.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/InflationChart.png">Increasing prices</a> as related to an&nbsp;<a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BASE?cid=124">increasing currency</a> without a commensurate increase in <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/AHETPI">wages</a>? Check.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A currency increase unrestrained by any <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GoldStandard.html">backing </a>requirement? Check.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A currency <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BASE?cid=124">quadrupled</a> in quantity over the past 10 years and not yet reflected in this chart? Check.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dire consequences to follow? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe">History</a> says, Check.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-85387047496253135052012-12-28T16:53:00.000-06:002013-01-24T12:13:57.921-06:00Financial Interest And Citizens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/4ad1c627-bb19-4b00-9fc9-ab9995e4af46/IMAG0856.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/4ad1c627-bb19-4b00-9fc9-ab9995e4af46/IMAG0856.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cheaper Than Dirt .223 Rifle, Empty 12/24/12</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/d45f4a7b-03a5-4c5d-9f0f-f0dc95a172fa/IMAG0860.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/d45f4a7b-03a5-4c5d-9f0f-f0dc95a172fa/IMAG0860.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" width="190" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">10 Round .223 AR-15 Mag, Bullet Trap Inc, 12/27/12 Cost: $75. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/6ec2ffcd-7e71-4358-9b58-8774fb212aea/IMAG0861.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/6ec2ffcd-7e71-4358-9b58-8774fb212aea/IMAG0861.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Academy Sports .223 Rifle, Empty 12/27/12</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/8502b467-0591-4ecf-a056-9b31f7ef8877/IMAG0857.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://www.evernote.com/shard/s245/sh/48159656-20f5-4211-942b-1daa49d8468e/db3207d493db2c01d24466b317c87e2f/res/8502b467-0591-4ecf-a056-9b31f7ef8877/IMAG0857.jpg?resizeSmall&amp;width=832" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cheaper Than Dirt 9mm Handgun, Empty 12/24/12</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, the national political climate has taken an apparent shift from toleration of an armed citizen to open mockery of a free citizen being armed. It has apparently troubled more then a few, as stores which I have never seen an empty ammo shelf have become the norm.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Within hours, the national outcry for the reinstatement of the 1994 <strike>Abridgement of the Second Amendment</strike> Assault Rifle Ban swept the internet and media outlets. The result? A run on the existing supply of such rifles, and a rapid increase in the private holdings of such rifles. To wit, the result of intoning increased control of fire arms is to increase the number of fire arms in private hands, and to drive the existing supplies of ammunition off the shelves and into the closets of private citizens.&nbsp;</span> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Anecdotal evidence from a local gun show on 12/22 was compelling. The doors opened at 9am, we arrived and stood in line from 8:45am to 9:15am to even enter the show floor. After 11:30am, I was no longer able to locate a dealer of ammunition selling .223 Rifle at any price.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Equally of note, the AR-15 style rifle has become exceptionally difficult to locate and purchase. At the show we visited, most vendors began the day charging double the previous going rate for rifles, with many rapidly increasing prices until selling out within only a handful of hours.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The standard magazine for these rifles holds 30 rounds, and were priced with a 800% increase from the price a month previous. Supply and demand functioned efficiently, these prices reflect a selling of magazines in 3 days equivalent to 42 months of sales.The picture above of the magazine priced at $75 is representative of a magazine with 1/3 the capability for 8 times the price of the standard magazine in the beginning of November. In essence a cost growth of 2400% as a result of a few words spoken in public. The short run inelasticity <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Inflexible, difficult to increase <span style="font-size: x-small;">supply in the short <span style="font-size: x-small;">run)</span></span></i></span> of the quantity supply is seen by rapid increases in prices as the retails cope with very elastic <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(increasing quickly in the short run)</span></i> demand. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">An AR-15 rifle is known to the industry as a 'Sporting Rifle' and has a more tactical look and feel then does a traditional hunting rifle. To those who do not understand the tools they seek to condemn, these are frequently referred to as 'Assault Rifles'. The fear and hysteria surrounding these implements is such that before anything approaching clarity was available regarding the Sandy Hook story, officials were decrying the presence of an AR-15 style rifle without regard for the facts regarding it's use, or even the legality of its presence on the school grounds.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">&nbsp;Really, it is almost as if <a href="http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=28d0c499-28ec-42a7-902d-ebf318d46d02">Diane Feinstein</a> and her compatriots have a large financial interest in increasing the sales of all arms makers and ammunition manufacturers. Think about it, millions of extra rounds of ammunition purchased in the past year for non-combat departments of the Federal Government were done with some cause. </span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-66604310665453610682012-12-24T15:19:00.001-06:002013-01-24T12:14:16.837-06:00The Hobbit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the early months of 1999 my mother hauled her two boys to the Grapevine Public Library. While I was busy casting about the children's book section, she went out of her way to pull a large, dully colored book down from the shelf and force me to hold it and look at it. While I gaped in impatience at the cover, she explained that although she had never read the book or the author, it was a book I would probably like.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As mothers tend to be, she was correct in her assessment. After all, I had plowed through CS Lewis' <i>Chronicles of Narnia</i> nearly six times.Taking her consultation into account, and with all the skills of discernment I possessed,&nbsp; I looked at the book with the map with a lonely mountain and the desolation of Smaug, decided it was silly, and returned it to the shelf. Thus ended my first interaction with J.R.R. Tolkien's <i>The Hobbit</i>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Accelerate now to the end of 2006. I had read the account of the Baggins adventure twice, the companion <i>Lord of the Rings</i> thrice. I still reckon on the four part cycle by Tolkien as one of the finest reads on my shelf, and relished the movies by Peter Jackson.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Enter 2012, as the Hobbit receives a three movie rendition of its own and audiences across the United States visited beloved Middle Earth yet again, enthralled by the deeply human story of the Halfling struggling amidst all the joy and terror and perils this fantasy world can offer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The movie represents the book quite well. Tolkienoids will appreciate the inclusion of the musical numbers which were often notably absent from the <i>LOTR </i>trilogy. Continuity folks will revel in the inclusion of Ian McKellen reprising Gandalf the Gray. Purists will adore the time lovingly spent in Bag End, the lines of the script taken straight from the quill of Tolkien, and the dedication to a properly blown smoke ring. Young and old alike ought to be entranced by Smaug, the Kingdom Under the Mountain, the Goblin kingdom, the Trolls and the Eagles.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In fact, there is something in this movie for everyone to enjoy. It is long. It is obsessed with the world of its creation. It does bear obvious foreshadowing and superfluous additions to the story. Regardless, <i>The Hobbit </i>remains enjoyable and even memorable, which is something many films, sequels, and prequels fail to achieve. (<i>Here's looking at you Lucas!</i>) Do yourself a favor and spend a few more hours in enthralled by Middle Earth. </span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-83927854871732639002012-12-20T10:05:00.004-06:002013-01-24T12:14:35.120-06:00How to Watch Netflix: Last Train Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DMIJ0E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004DMIJ0E">Last Train Home</a> </i>is a documentary crafted by Lixin Fan and released in 2009. Fan follows three years in the life of a family swimming in the annual labor migration of the Chinese industrial revolution. In many respects, this family presents a non-typical image of modern China. Courtesy of the barbaric One Child policy, the fertility rate of the Chinese mainland has fallen 6 births per woman in 1970 to a low of 1.4 birth per woman in 2010. What is also notable, the first born is a daughter. For variety of reasons, this is not as common as it statistically should be in china. <i>(Freakonomics: <a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/10/26/misadventures-in-baby-making-full-transcript/">Misadventures in Baby Making</a>)</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RCH7RBLe_nc/UNM3M4mDxLI/AAAAAAAABqk/jSG97P_9jsw/s1600/LastTrainHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RCH7RBLe_nc/UNM3M4mDxLI/AAAAAAAABqk/jSG97P_9jsw/s320/LastTrainHome.jpg" width="189" /></a><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Father and Mother are Zhang Changhua and Chen Suquin, both among the 130 million textile workers who live and work and eat and breathe the factories of Guangzhou (near Hong Kong).Despite the low wages earned in the factory, they are able to save enough Yuan each year to more than offset the earnings of their agricultural options at home.&nbsp; Meanwhile, their children are raised in the agricultural homestead by their grandmother. <i>Last Train Home </i>begins as the parents near the end of their fifteenth year of migrant labor. They work to save enough to send both children to school.&nbsp; Each year, they return home to celebrate the Chinese New Year, duration of one to two months. On each occasion it is an ordeal of immense proportions to journey home by the trains which navigate the Chinese countryside. &nbsp;</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fan does a fine job capturing the scope of humanity which travels at this time, comprising nearly 130 million souls headed back home at the same time. To miss the train going home is to miss home entirely for the year.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first born is Zhang Qin, a daughter of high school age who appears to have nothing but distain for the efforts of her parents and her grandmother. Her coming of age story unfolds with remarkable alacrity and feeling throughout Fan’s work. Her younger brother is struggling academically, and the reasons develop over the years as well. There exists a powerful tension between the three generations, as the young and old clash over ideals and lifestyles. Distance and time spent apart remain enormous obstacles to overcome, and like all families in history, there is no final conclusion to the joys and struggles of life. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The obvious question is never asked, but I will address it here after finding my own answer. Why would this family not move to the city? Due to the <i>hukou</i> of the Chinese political system, the farmer families are unable to access public services beyond their district. The <i>hukou</i> status grants government services to people, provided they remain in the proper place granted to them. These include education, medical care, housing, and pensions. To move into an area where the <i>hukou</i> is not applicable is economic suicide. Wealthy city dwellers are unwilling to debase their <i>hukou</i> benefits and refuse to grant a change in <i>hukou</i> status to migrant families. In consequence, a population comprising nearly 40% of the United States migrates hither and yon on a yearly basis. &nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Last Train Home </i>is presented only in Mandarin with lively and responsive English subtitling. Before this begins to daunt, consider this: It is rare that you will devote your entire attention to what is on a screen before you, because you can simply turn away and listen to the audio whilst your mind cleverly fills in the void. Not so in Mandarin with English subtitles, as the subtitles require constant attention.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Use your Netflix for good tonight, this is highly recommended viewing.&nbsp;</span></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-7289746363370044152012-11-28T21:14:00.001-06:002013-01-24T12:15:18.682-06:00Redistribution and Times of Tempest <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a nation racing towards insolvency at the speed of a falling falcon, the state of Pennsylvania is worth a look. But first, some reality.</span><br /><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The redistribution of wealth by government entities has two consequences which are seldom discussed. First, the wealth must be removed from the hands of citizens who possess it. In our national system this means taxing people with income and profitable investments. Second, the confiscated wealth is utilized to encourage individuals without income or profitable investments to retain such vocations. In our rational world, we punish that which is productive and reward that which is not. Even bypassing the moral&nbsp;arguments&nbsp;against theft of wealth by the power of guns, this is a miserable set up and provides negative incentives to both parties of the transactions.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take note of the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/114628958?access_key=key-2lath56wpkd24rabyzx5">following graphs </a>from the Department of Public Welfare of Pennsylvania in conjunction with the American Enterprise Institute.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibit A: The income curve of a Pennsylvania family of a single mother and two children. The red line indicates the level of earnings. Blue bars indicate net earnings and are representative of take home pay and benefits following Federal and State taxes. Notice that while a progressive tax rate is active, it is in all cases better to increase earnings.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTkWztPlCyU/ULbHNLN3gDI/AAAAAAAABqA/xCOEhc1Vo5w/s1600/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="475" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTkWztPlCyU/ULbHNLN3gDI/AAAAAAAABqA/xCOEhc1Vo5w/s640/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+A.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibit B: The income curve of a Pennsylvania family of a single mother and two children. Note the remaining red income line and the blue area of net income. Note also the stark level of redistributed wealth. The dashed horizontal line is important, as this individual earning $29,000 per year will&nbsp;<i>rationally refuse </i>any increase in income, unless such income were to exceed $69,000 per year.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZKhGAA7dMA/ULbHOomeHeI/AAAAAAAABqI/8jTX4lp1Fto/s1600/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="473" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zZKhGAA7dMA/ULbHOomeHeI/AAAAAAAABqI/8jTX4lp1Fto/s640/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+B.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibit C: The outcome of increased redistribution of wealth. The programs we collectively call welfare are not the only source of redistributed income, wealth producers are subject to an additional form of&nbsp;exploitation.&nbsp; Government employees are paid from this same pool of forcibly collected wealth. At this very hour there are only five privately employed wage producers for every 4 individuals collecting from this sour pool of redistributed wealth. For a look at the growth of government&nbsp;employment&nbsp;in&nbsp;comparison&nbsp;to the growth in private&nbsp;employment, look at <a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/114628958?access_key=key-2lath56wpkd24rabyzx5">slide 14</a>.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlYhcyk-LOg/ULbHPzEj15I/AAAAAAAABqQ/SBztJkL0MOQ/s1600/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+C.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlYhcyk-LOg/ULbHPzEj15I/AAAAAAAABqQ/SBztJkL0MOQ/s640/Penn-+Benifits+and+Income+Chart+C.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly there is room for disagreement on the role of government and the level of employment under the banner of the government system, but there ought be no dispute that every dollar used to pay the wages of government employees is that which stems from taxation or excise. My umbrage is not with the individuals who have rationally&nbsp;chosen&nbsp;work within the government apparatus, but with the apparatus as it exists and from where the&nbsp;resources&nbsp;for it's&nbsp;existence&nbsp;are derived.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can it <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can't_Happen_Here">happen here</a>? Will the motor continue <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged">to turn</a>?&nbsp;Have we passed the&nbsp;<a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run">event horizon</a>?&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big questions with no easy answer, and the sky continues to darken uncomfortably. It was without error when Romney declared 47% of the electorate would be firmly opposed to a&nbsp;candidate&nbsp;who even pretended to rearrange this acrimonious construct. We may be watching as that 47% swiftly surpasses the 50% mark over the coming two years. The political firepower simply does not exist on a national level* to reduce the spending on <strike>these</strike> any policy. The <i>rational and expected action </i>of an elected official at this time is to encourage redistribution of wealth just as Senators of Rome pursued headlong the&nbsp;<i>panem et circenses </i>politics&nbsp;of the republics latter days.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time is past and present to remedy this insult to human dignity. We must no longer sanction the punishment of the productive on behalf of the collective society. Equally important is to restore the hope that comes when an individual is capable of improving themselves. It is&nbsp;implausible&nbsp;to believe that a single mother with&nbsp;receive&nbsp;a promotion from $29,000 a year to $70,000 a year. Short of that pay rate, she is told that her most valuable place in society&nbsp;<i>and for her children</i>&nbsp;is to earn less then $30,000 year. In the desire to provide for a low income family at the expense of others, we have managed to strip away hope and pride and desire for personal and professional improvement.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Irrevocably and predictably our solution falls once again upon the shoulders of the individuals who make the teeming mass of people we call Americans. Will the hearts and minds of the people change to alter the course we are set on? Human history is rife with societies who have quibbled over the gold on a sinking ship, but of equal abundance are ships righted in times of tempest. May God be with us.</span><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>*(Ryan, Gowdy and Paul notwithstanding)</i></span></div></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-34544648034791120092012-11-27T10:42:00.003-06:002013-01-24T12:15:42.524-06:00How to Watch Netflix<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You have Netflix. You have an Instant Queue sitting full of shows and movies yet unwatched. The time has come to stop scrolling past these artifacts of interests past and watch something new with an eye for learning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D7rEpoh_GLo/ULTtYAUVPDI/AAAAAAAABpw/b8c5rybNk0M/s1600/Food+Inc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D7rEpoh_GLo/ULTtYAUVPDI/AAAAAAAABpw/b8c5rybNk0M/s200/Food+Inc.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Introducing &nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VRZEYM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002VRZEYM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20"><i>Food, Inc</i></a>, a 2008 documentary by Robert Keener on the state of food in these United States. The promotional tag line goes, “<span style="background: white;">An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.</span>” At 94 minutes, it is an easy and informative watch. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, along with other critical accolades. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><i>Food, Inc</i> is compelling and engaging. Keener clearly had an agenda when putting this film together. However, he does not cloud the delivery of his message: the food we consume is far from what we imagine it to be. As we drift farther away from an agricultural lifestyle, people no longer understand what food is, where it comes from, and how it is processed. &nbsp;Keener faults the handful of multinational corporations creating and delivering the food supply. These are the consequence of the fast food industry’s titanic purchasing power, as driven by consumer demand for cheap, fast, and filling food, regardless of nutrition provided. The result is a food industry sacrificing safety for the sake of cutting costs with little advocacy on behalf of the consumer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQiEq5_h80Q/R6H80J2ZtWI/AAAAAAAAANA/YO5yn6I0yYI/s1600/100_7179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQiEq5_h80Q/R6H80J2ZtWI/AAAAAAAAANA/YO5yn6I0yYI/s200/100_7179.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Most of the documentary discusses problems which are well identified, but they are only symptoms. It is apparent to a viewer who watches <i>and thinks about what is being said</i> that the root cause tying all of the symptoms together is that of agricultural subsidies. Corn, wheat, and soybean crops are heavily subsidized by the US Federal Government. The way this works is a price floor, where there is always an absolute minimum price that a farming corporation can sell his grain for to the US government. The cost of production has diminished from where this price floor is set that farming corporations have incentives at all times to increase the production of corn. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Suddenly, the supply of corn vastly outstrips traditional demand and prices fall. When these prices are low enough, livestock producers begin to purchase corn to feed animals not designed to subsist on corn. Eventually this leads to health issues in the livestock, but it is still cost effective to medicate the livestock with antibiotics and maintain the corn based diet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">All of the problems identified in <i>Food, Inc</i> can be traced back to the root issue of subsidized cereal grains, this American Hydra of unintended consequences. So long as this economic reality exists, the Sisyphean task of providing government oversight to ensure food safety will be unsuccessful. Keener actually does a fine job demonstrating how powerless the FDA is in the food industry, and inadvertently showcases why a trust in government to protect people is a vain faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Go on, use your Netflix and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VRZEYM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002VRZEYM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Amazon Prime</a> for good tonight. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-79572424696106428062012-11-20T09:12:00.004-06:002012-11-20T14:38:34.067-06:00Christmas Gift List for Leaders Of Liberty <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christmas Gift List for Leaders Of Liberty</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NR5TjlQrKzM/UKudmYCJ_LI/AAAAAAAABpU/-e2VPiQrENo/s1600/lookatthisduck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Look at it" border="0" height="243" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NR5TjlQrKzM/UKudmYCJ_LI/AAAAAAAABpU/-e2VPiQrENo/s320/lookatthisduck.jpg" title="Look at this Duck" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christmas is coming, and you have people to give to. Some of those people are even politically oriented, with a penchant for the liberalism of the enlightenment.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This list is for you, for them. I have personal experience with each item on this list, and not a bad apple in the bunch. (No, this is not the list for myself)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Non-Fiction:&nbsp;</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226320553/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0226320553&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition&nbsp;</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;F. A. Hayek, a man&nbsp;under appreciated&nbsp;in economics and political theory. Sure to be loved.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802144160/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0802144160&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0802144160" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How individuals trading across borders made life better and worse, and why the world is as rich as it is today on account of increased trade.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455501441/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1455501441&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1455501441" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron Paul, an man under appreciated in political theory and the Republican party. If you are like myself in 2008, you are unable to fathom why there are so many who love this man's principles so dearly. This book will help illuminate why. (Then when you finish with it, it makes a great Christmas gift for someone who is already oriented to liberty)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1463705379/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1463705379&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">On Liberty</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1463705379" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Stuart Mill, a man possibly over appreciated in economics and in political academics. Nevertheless, this is a classic of the genre, a rational exposition of liberty which should be read at least once.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007K5DXIY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B007K5DXIY&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B007K5DXIY" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liberty and revolutions against tyranny are no mere american function. This is the story of John Cooke, a lawyer tasked by the revolution of 1649 to lead the prosecution of King Charles the I. It was the first time that a king would be tried in a court of law for Tyrannicide, the crime of killing those whom he was tasked by God to defend. It is also notable that John Cooke was a devout christian, and this story pulls no punches in acknowledging his faith, and the role of the christian faith in the&nbsp;establishment&nbsp;of the short lived English Republic.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425224740/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0425224740&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Generation Kill</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0425224740" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evan Wright, an embedded reporter with a US Marines Recon battalion in the first months of the Gulf War in 2003,&nbsp;unparalleled look into the faces on the ground. Not for children. To run a&nbsp;simile&nbsp; think Band of Brothers but for this generation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IEA4DM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004IEA4DM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">End the Fed</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004IEA4DM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron Paul again, with a book that will make any one interest in the expansion of liberty sit up and think.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433502410/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1433502410&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">The ESV Study Bible</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1433502410" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no man who has done more for the cause of the individual then Jesus Christ. This is the&nbsp;definitive&nbsp;book about him, and rife with notes and maps and cross references to help with study. I use this myself.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;Fiction:&nbsp;</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452011876/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0452011876&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Atlas Shrugged</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0452011876" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ayn Rand, this is a book both fascinating and controversial. It will find a&nbsp;permanent&nbsp;place in a home, but is also not child friendly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451673310/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1451673310&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Fahrenheit 451: A Novel</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1451673310" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is no secret that this book is adored by this blogger. Of all the prominent dystopian novels. Bradbury crafted the best, an onrushing torrent of wit and verve and wisdom packed inside of a story which has become cliche due to the numerous and frail&nbsp;derivatives&nbsp;of it we must deal with today.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312863551/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0312863551&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0312863551" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moon is communist. The moon wants freedom. The computer&nbsp;achieves&nbsp;intelligence. Let the revolution begin, and forget not: There is no such thing as a free lunch.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AQS0F/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B0000AQS0F&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Firefly - The Complete Series</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0000AQS0F" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />"Firefly! I love Firefly!...Although that is one thing we will probably not let our kids watch until they are eighteen." - Jenny. Don't fret, its the best network TV series. Ever. Science Fiction and western and libertarian thought all rolled into one marvelously scripted bundle of joy.</span><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dj8NOy2WOSY/UKub2cPUbaI/AAAAAAAABpM/k6Px0c777Qs/s1600/IMAG0801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dj8NOy2WOSY/UKub2cPUbaI/AAAAAAAABpM/k6Px0c777Qs/s320/IMAG0801.jpg" width="191" /></span></a><br /><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other Goodies:&nbsp;</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silver Dollar coins. this was given to me by my Oklahoma Uncle when I earned the Eagle Scout award, and it has been on a key ring ever since. Ironic that 6 years later I would be pining for a return to a metallic currency and a cessation of the fiat currency.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H9DO4Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004H9DO4Y&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Cold Steel GI Tanto Knife with Secure-Ex Sheath</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004H9DO4Y" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because men who value liberty also value knives. This one is fun to hold, fun to use, fun to throw, durable and a great value.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037STL7A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B0037STL7A&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Leatherman 831206 Style? Cs Keychain Multi-Tool</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0037STL7A" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not TSA compliant, and it sure is handy to have on a key ring. Jenny carries it everyday and is quite happy with it, particularly the scissors.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EM8008/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B003EM8008&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pushbackthefr-20">Panasonic RPHJE120K In-Ear Headphone, Black</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=pushbackthefr-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B003EM8008" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To listen to Dvorak&nbsp;and MacMaster and these here listed podcasts.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Podcasts:&nbsp;</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are free. These have no commercials. These are informative. These will make you smarter if you listen. Do so while you have some free time this&nbsp;December.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://econtalk.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Econtalk&nbsp;</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Russ Roberts, professor or economics and a guest discuss a given topic for roughly an hour a week. Recently discussed are the topics of Healthcare, Economics Price Gouging, John Locke, Public Pensions, Geographic distribution of voting, Education and the Internet. All personally recommended.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://noagendashow.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No Agenda</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crackpot and Buzzkill, media assassins. No formal political training required, these are two men who have a conversation about the news, the media, and the smoke and mirrors we call the news. It's twice a week, roughly 2 hours each, and no commercials. Unique in that it is listener supported, enough so that it provides full time income for both me. No Agenda just passed the 5 year mark, and I have been a follower for that entire time. Recommended, but bear in mind it is considered PG-13.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardcore History</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This man produces stellar historical narratives that can take 40 minutes to complete, or 5 2 hour shows. I have never once listened to an episode of Hardcore History over the past 4 years and felt like it was a waste of time. The common sentiment upon reaching the end of the show is: <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"WAIT!! DAN, THERE IS MORE TO COVER! DON'T STOP NOW!!</span></i>"</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dan Carlin doesn't stop, he just comes back with another episode worthy of your attention.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The current series is on Genghis Khan and his conquests, other topics include the Fall of Rome, the Eastern front of WWII, and the effect of hysterical fear on the courses of history.&nbsp;</span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121731.post-9518789284737479062012-11-12T18:57:00.001-06:002012-11-12T18:57:05.133-06:00Inflation Blues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pandora does, on occasion, bring forth wonderful music&nbsp;specifically&nbsp;for my ear.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behold, BB King and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHId-r8Gb-8">the Inflation Blues</a></span><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZHId-r8Gb-8" width="420"></iframe> <span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;"><br /></span></div><span class="line line-s hover" id="line_15" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">Now you take that paper dollar</span></span><span class="line line-s hover" id="line_16" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">It’s only that in name</span></span><span class="line line-s hover" id="line_17" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">The way that buck has shrunk</span></span><span class="line line-s hover" id="line_18" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">It’s a lowdown dirty shame</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;"><br style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;" /></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_19" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">That’s why I got the blues</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_20" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">Got those inflation blues</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_21" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">'Cause I have</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;"><br style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;" /></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_22" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">Mr. President, please cut the price of sugar</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_23" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">I wanna make my coffee sweet</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_24" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">I wanna smear some butter on my bread</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_25" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">And I just got to have my meat</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;"><br style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;" /></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_26" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">When you start rationing</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_27" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">You really played the game</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_28" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">And things are going up and up and up and up</span></span><span class="line line-s" id="line_29" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d;">And my check remains the same</span></span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></div>RobertDWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12468867977431697913noreply@blogger.com0